The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Tuesday closed 108.52 points, or 0.40 percent, down ahead of US Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting.
The 30-scrip Sensex, which opened at 27,291.06 points, closed at 27,253.44 points, after touching a high of 27,296.30 points and a low of 27,209.52 points during the day.
The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also closed in the negative territory -- 27.65 points or 0.33 percent down at 8,232.90 points.
"Markets are in a cautious mood and continued to consolidate, ahead of the Fed meeting and Bank of Japan meeting during the week," Vinod Nair, Head-Fundamental Research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services said.
"Markets ends on a weak note on second day in a row. Investors awaits the outcome of US Fed meet on rate hike which begins later tonight and prefer to stay cautious. Below than expected quarterly corporate earnings and weak global cues disappointed the street," Gaurav Jain, director at Hem Securities, said.
Foreign funds were net sellers of shares worth $118.21 million.
In Tuesday's trade, selling pressure was seen in consumer durables, capital goods and oil and gas sectors.
On the BSE, consumer durables index dropped by 1.43 percent, capital goods index slipped by 0.70 percent and oil and gas index went down by 0.66 percent.
The 100-scrip and 200-scrip indices were both down by 0.25 percent and 0.19 percent, respectively. Mid-cap index ended lower by around 0.16 percent and small-cap stocks fell 0.15 percent.
The Sensex gainers were: Maruti Suzuki, up 2.44 percent at Rs.4494.60; Sun Pharma, up 1.88 percent at Rs.905.45 and Wipro, up 1.04 percent at Rs.575.20.
The losers included: Lupin, down 5.25 percent at Rs.1945.65; ONGC, down 3.07 percent at Rs.248.10; and HDFC, down 2.87 percent at Rs.1275.15.
Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei was down by 0.90 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index was higher by 0.14 percent, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up by 0.11 percent.
In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was down by 0.28 percent, France's CAC 40 was lower by 0.58 percent and Germany's DAX Index was down by 0.42 percent at the closing in the Indian markets.
